Gasum Group releases latest financial results

Key financial indicators

• Group revenue increased by 2% and totalled €396.6 million (2018: €390.5 million).
• Operating profit totalled €61.1 million, down 16% year on year (2018: €72.8 million).
• Balance sheet total increased to €1.62 billion (2018: €1.52 billion) following the introduction of the new IFRS 16 standard.
• The group’s financial position remained strong in the reporting period, with the equity ratio being 42.5% (2018: 31 December 2018: 43.7%).

Gasum Group CEO Johanna Lamminen’s comments

“Our financial performance was in line with our expectations during 1Q. Our revenue increased to €396.6 million in the period under review, up 2% year on year (2018: €390.5 million). Our operating profit was €61.1 million, down from the €72.8 million posted for the corresponding period a year earlier. The result was affected by the sales volumes of an exceptionally cold spell in the reference period.

In 1Q, we continued our purposeful steps forward in our strategy implementation. The demand for clean gas solutions is growing strongly, and total gas sales volumes are projected to increase. As a low-emission fuel, the role of gas will increase in the future, above all in maritime transport and heavy-duty road transport as action to curb climate change calls for a transition to cleaner solutions. In the years ahead, we will be investing in the development of the Nordic gas market and infrastructure.

Effective from January 2019, we reformed our organisation structure to support our Nordic strategy implementation. Our new businesses were on a positive trajectory during 1Q. Our energy market services provided under our portfolio management and trading business support our energy-sector partners in the changing market, and demand for market services such as those relating to electricity trading is growing.

Our preparations have continued ahead of the opening up of the Finnish gas market at the start of 2020, which is when the transmission business will be unbundled into a separate company. Work related to the opening up of the gas market will continue strongly throughout the year.

During the period under review, Gasum’s bunkering vessel Coralius performed its 100th ship-to-ship bunkering of LNG.

We also announced the expansion of an important road transport partnership with IKEA Finland in 1Q. This year will see us open gas filling stations serving lighter vehicles in conjunction with the IKEA stores in Raisio, Kuopio and Tampere, Finland. Gas as a fuel is also attracting interest among public transport and particularly heavy-duty transport operators. The City of Lappeenranta will introduce low-emission gas buses and several transport companies have taken gas-fuelled heavy-duty vehicles and biogas-fuelled delivery vehicles into service. The increasing use of gas-fuelled vehicles promotes significant emission cuts in transport.

The size of the Nordic heavy-duty vehicle filling station network will become many times bigger in the next few years. Switching to gas in heavy-duty transport will enable major transport emission cuts.”

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/07052019/gasum-group-releases-latest-financial-results/